Chapter 10 - THE GIRL WHO REMEMBERED EVERYTHINGThe fire moved faster than I expected.

Curtains caught.

Wood cracked.

Smoke filled the hallway.

“Everyone out!”

Michael grabbed Lily.

I grabbed Emma.

My father stayed behind.

“Dad!”

He looked at me.

“You go.”

“No!”

“I caused this.”

“You're coming with us.”

He shook his head.

“Sarah.”

He removed a small metal key from his pocket.

He pressed it into my hand.

“The storage unit.”

“What about it?”

“Your mother left everything there.”

“I thought Mark had the key.”

“He had a copy.”

I stared at him.

“What are you planning?”

“To end it.”

Outside, men were moving toward the house.

Daniel ran toward the back door.

The police followed.

Mark stood in the burning hallway.

He looked at me.

“Go.”

I hesitated.

“Why?”

“Because I owe Emma.”

He turned toward the flames.

“More than I owe myself.”

He charged toward Daniel.

They disappeared into the smoke.

Michael dragged me outside.

We ran across the yard.

Lily and Emma were beside us.

My father emerged from the front door.

Then the house exploded behind him.

He hit the ground.

I screamed.

But he was alive.

The police surrounded us.

Daniel was captured.

Mark was gone.

The old man behind everything had vanished.

Three days later, we found the storage unit.

Inside were hundreds of boxes.

Documents.

Hard drives.

Photographs.

Medical files.

Names.

Thousands of names.

Children.

Parents.

Families destroyed by a program that had existed for decades.

My mother had collected everything.

And at the bottom of the final box was a letter.

I opened it.

Sarah,

I am sorry.

There are truths no mother wants her daughter to learn.

You will hate your father.

You will hate yourself.

You may even hate me.

But remember this.

You were never the victim they planned you to be.

You were the person I chose to trust with the truth.

I cried.

Michael stood beside me.

Lily and Emma were playing outside.

For the first time, they were together.

Sisters who had spent nine years believing they were strangers.

My father sat in the corner.

Broken.

But alive.

He confessed everything.

The money.

The agreement.

The experiment.

The cover-up.

The police arrested him.

I visited him once.

He couldn't look at me.

“I loved you,” he whispered.

“I know.”

“I made terrible choices.”

“Yes.”

“Do you forgive me?”

I thought about it.

“No.”

He nodded.

“I understand.”

Then I stood.

“But I don't hate you anymore.”

That was all I could give him.

Weeks passed.

The Aurora files went public.

Investigations began.

Executives were arrested.

Hospitals were questioned.

Politicians resigned.

The world learned about the children.

And then, one night, my phone rang.

Unknown number.

I almost ignored it.

Then Lily walked into the room.

She looked at the screen.

“Answer it.”

“Why?”

“Because I know that number.”

I stared at her.

“How?”

She whispered:

“They called me every night.”

My blood froze.

I answered.

Silence.

Then the voice.

Old.

Calm.

Familiar.

“Sarah.”

My entire body went cold.

“You're dead.”

The man laughed.

“No.”

I looked at Lily.

She was trembling.

“Where are you?”

“Closer than you think.”

“What do you want?”

“Nothing.”

“Then why call?”

“Because you found the files.”

“Yes.”

“And now you believe it's over.”

I said nothing.

He laughed again.

“You only found the first project.”

My blood ran cold.

“What?”

“The second one began twelve years ago.”

I looked at Lily.

She had gone pale.

“Where?”

The voice answered:

“Inside your own family.”

Then the call ended.

I stood frozen.

Michael walked into the room.

“What happened?”

I couldn't speak.

Lily whispered:

“Mom…”

I looked at her.

“What?”

She pointed toward the hallway.

There was a photograph lying on the floor.

None of us had seen it before.

I picked it up.

It showed a hospital nursery.

Two newborn babies.

Emma.

Lily.

And a third crib.

Empty.

On the back, three words were written.

THE THIRD CHILD LIVES.

My hands began shaking.

Michael looked at the photograph.

Then at me.

For the first time since the night everything began...

he looked genuinely terrified.

Because beneath the photograph was another name.

A name none of us had ever heard before.

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And beneath that name was a date.

Tomorrow.